Midnight July

 

Midnight July

•

relentless din
of crawling
prowling
night
pours steaming
through my window

midnight intrudes
damp
and searing

insistent

scalded air
too hot and thick
to breathe

a heat to suffocate

coarse whirr
drones overhead
promising relief

in vain

sweltered darkness
lays heavy
upon me

unbearable

I toss
in labored
half-sleep

gasping
for
cool relief

haltingly
I deep inhale
to fill my lunges

only to bake them
in cruel
sustaining breath

this oven to endure

salted droplets
trace my spine

baste my neck

pool
in the hollow
of my fevered chest

bloom and seep
from beneath the smother
of matted soak
atop my head

to weep their way
‘cross smoldered brow
into my eyes

and sting

no respite
in this nocturne furnace

night clings
and stifles

even dreams are scorched

simmering in July

• • •

rob kistner © 2008